Access for adaptation? Reviewing the linkages between energy, disasters, and development in India

Over the years, the energy discourse has tenaciously focused on energy transitions to expedite climate mitigation efforts. This has inadvertently resulted in little attention to the other important link between energy and climate, namely energy access and climate adaptation. In particular, the potential role of reliable, affordable and sustainable modern energy services in strengthening societies’ adaptive capacities to address climate disaster events has been ignored across both policy and practice. This paper probes these links and argues for a critically co-dependent conceptual relationship between energy access, rural development, and climate adaptation and disaster management. It then explores how, if at all, these links may exist in Odisha, one of India’s most climate vulnerable states with low socio-economic development. The paper concludes that a deep-seated policy reform is necessary to bring about a shift in how we a) measure ‘successful’ disaster policy, b) understand the role of energy in a disaster context, and c) recognise, and seek greater synergies between energy access, rural development and climate adaptation objectives.